Feds place land in Verona in Oneida Indian Nation trust

VERONA, NY -- The federal government has quietly placed 18 acres of land in Verona into tax-exempt trust for the Oneida Indian Nation, even as the trust status of more than 17,000 acres elsewhere in Oneida and Madison counties remains mired in lawsuits.

According to a Dec. 30 letter from the Department of Interior, land that was formerly part of a U.S. Air Force research complex in Verona has already been set aside for the Oneidas.

The Oneidas praised the decision, saying it could open the door to getting the larger amount of land placed into trust. Opponents of the broader trust effort vowed to fight the decision.

The transfer of land from the Air Force to Interior has bypassed the lengthy, contentious battle that has engulfed the Oneida nation's request to place more than 17,000 acres of Oneida-owned land into trust. Interior officials last year recommended putting more than 13,000 acres into trust, a decision that triggered seven lawsuits that are still pending in federal court.

The 18 acres of trust land lie on Germany Road in Verona. It's part of a 513-acre parcel of land known as the U.S. Air Force Space Command Complex. The complex, built in the 1950s as a testing site for Griffiss Air Force Base, has been mothballed for years.

The Air Force in 1999 declared the 18-acre parcel "excess," meaning it was no longer needed. The remaining 495 acres of the complex were declared excess in 2006. A spokeswoman at the General Services Administration, which handles the actual transfers of land from one government agency to another, said she did not know if that 495 acres would also be turned over to Interior for Oneida trust land.

In last week's letter, Interior official George Skibine cited a law that allows the GSA to turn over land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- a division of Interior -- for the benefit of tribes. He said he was responding to a letter from nearly seven years ago -- May 28, 2002 -- concerning the transfer of the Germany Road land.

"The BIA hereby acknowledges receipt of administrative custody of the property," Skibine wrote. "The property is held in trust by the secretary of the Interior for the Oneida Indian Nation of New York."

The law cited by Skibine states that excess government land can be placed into trust if it is "located within the reservation of any group, band, or tribe of Indians that is recognized as eligible for services by the Bureau of Indian Affairs."

The Oneida nation issued a brief statement supporting the trust land acquisition.

"We are pleased by the Department of Interior's action, as it is a first step toward using trust land in a way that will benefit not just the Oneida Nation but all the communities that make up Central New York," the statement read.

Opponents of the larger trust action say they'll fight the transfer of the Air Force land.

"This will be challenged," said David Vickers, president of Upstate Citizens for Equality, which has filed one of the lawsuits against the larger trust request. "This is yet another violation of New York's sovereignty by the federal government."

Vickers said the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 made it clear that Verona is not reservation land, thus rendering the Germany Road ineligible for the trust land transfer.

The Oneida nation says that its entire 250,000-acre claim area, including Verona, is still considered a reservation by the federal government. A federal judge has upheld that argument.